Dieting. Ugh. I hear the word and it just sort of makes me…mad. And hungry. When I find myself (and, well, lots of other people I know) equating things that taste delicious with guilt or sinfulness or the like… I mean, what IS that? Our country’s Puritanical roots? The fun-house body image in my head compliments of years of slap and tickle from women’s magazines? (“Embrace yourself! You’re beautiful! But, for the love of Pete, lose 10 pounds. Oh, and be sure not to miss the fashion spread on page 112 of the 15-year-old girl with no body fat and really fabulous, young skin, all of which have been air-brushed within an inch of their life anyway. Now get out there and feel good about yourself!”) Is there any hope of striking a balance? Can’t we ever just get along? (Well, me and my body, that is.)
My wise butcher dad, Mike Zavatto, has a lot of mottos he likes to pull out of the ol’ kit bag when we’re on the phone or I’m out visiting. Like his final word on the true meaning of wealth: “I may never be rich, but I’ll never starve!" Or the fact that he’s a lot more sentimental than he lets on, really, really loved our mom, and, on another note, that he couldn’t bear to re-attach himself to another loveable family pet only to have to dig a grave for it in the backyard: “One dog, one wife!” And my favorite because it’s the one I put into practice the most: “Everything in moderation!” He’s really got something there.
A bunch of diet-y books landed on my desk over the last month, and I pretty much tossed them in a corner and ignored them. When I dared to open one on an afternoon particularly rife with desperate procrastination techniques, the page I landed on had a recipe using fat-free string cheese as an ingredient. That book went in the recycle bin. Because of this rather unfortunate experience (as I emailed my co-blogger, Carolyn, I really do think there’s a special place in Hell for the inventor of fat-free string cheese), I ignored what I found later to be a very good book by the chef Jennifer Iserloh. Admittedly, the name put me off a little—Secrets of a Skinny Chef. “Why is skinny the ultimate ideal?!” I ranted internally. “Why must we all aspire to skinny-ness??!!!” And so the book sat. But fortunately, I did eventually open it, and you know what? It’s a really good book. And it’s not about being skinny. It uses my dad’s “Everything in moderation!” motto, as well as good, real ingredients, and reaches Iserloh’s ultimate goal of packing in a lot flavor. And she gets it—she was an overweight kid and teen who grew up in a family that liked to eat. A lot. Her Hungarian grandma, like so many who came up during the Depression Era, loved that she could offer a bounty at the table, and no-holds-barred did. And Jennifer ate it. Then she grew up and moved out, learned a little about not eating mountainous portions, and became a chef. She learned that healthy didn’t have to mean tasteless, and that holding onto a comfortable weight didn’t mean engaging in utter denial and starving oneself. Quite the opposite, actually.
After this winter of new-stove love, my husband and I came to that springtime revelation that, yipes, our warm-weather clothes from last year are feeling kind of tight, and with both of our family health histories (a four-punch combo of breast cancer, high-cholesterol, heart disease, and emphysema—huzzah!), that, you know, maybe we could stand to get back on the Mike Zavatto moderation track. Yesterday, I baked Iserloh’s great version of carrot cake—which subs out typical ingredients like white flour for wheat, butter for low-fat buttermilk, and lightens up the sugar with the flavorful addition of apple sauce, carrot juice, and a ton of super-spicy add-ins. It had amazing texture and great flavor and we both didn’t feel for a second that we were eating anything other than a really indulgent slice o’ cake. Before that, dinner was Iserloh’s version of pork lo mein—packed with greens, garlic, juicy pork, shi-take mushrooms, and soba noodles; this dish is absolutely going to make it into my standard weeknight repertoire. Not only was it great, but it was basically a one-pan dish (save for the pot used to boil the noodles). The end result is a meal that comes in at less than 300 calories and 7 grams of fat per serving, if you’re wondering (all her recipes break this down at the end for you). But that wasn’t really what I was thinking about. I was thinking, “Yay! There’s enough for leftovers for lunch tomorrow.”
How do you strike a healthy balance in your diet and lifestyle?
Pork Lo Mein, Hold the Grease
This dish makes 6 servings and can easily be turned into a vegetarian dish (a shout-out to my sister Laura and awesome friend Tamar!) by subbing the chicken broth for veggie broth and working with tofu in place of the pork.
- 1/2 cup orange juice (or the juice from 1 orange)
- 1/2 cup reduced sodium, fat-free chicken broth
- 2 TBS reduced-sodium soy sauce
- 2 TBS peanut butter
- 2 cloves garlic, minced (I used 4, because I really love garlic, and shredded it finely using a microplane grater)
- 1 tsp red chile flakes or hot chile sauce
- 1 TBS sesame oil*
- 2 center-cut pork chops (about 1/2 pound), fat trimmed, thinly sliced
- 1 red bell pepper, seeded and diced
- 2 cups shi-take mushrooms (about 4 oz.), sliced
- 1 lb collard greens, thinly sliced (there were none at my market, but there was some great looking Swiss chard, so I used that instead and it was fantastic)
- 1 8-oz. package soba noodles, cooked according to the package instructions and drained
- 1 8-oz. can sliced water chestnuts, drained
- 4 scallions, chopped
In a small bowl, whisk the orange juice, broth, soy sauce, peanut butter, garlic, and red chile flakes or chile sauce until smooth. Set aside. Heat the sesame oil in a large skillet over high heat. Add the pork, bell pepper, shi-takes, and collard greens. Cook 8 to 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables start to soften. Add the cooked, drained noodles to the skillet with the vegetables. Add the orange juice mixture, water chestnuts, and scallions. Toss well to coat. Cook 1 or 2 additional minutes, until the sauce reduces slightly and the noodles are hot. Serve immediately.
*Says Iserloh: “Consistently using too much oil is one of the reasons people have a hard time losing weight. Fat is essential for flavor and taste, but keep a close eye on how much you use.”
Amy Zavatto has been writing about wine, spirits, and food for ten years. Her work appears in Imbibe, Gotham, and Every Day with Rachael Ray, among others. She is the author of The Complete Idiot's Guide to Bartending and the co-author of The Renaissance Guide to Wine & Food Pairing.
The funny thing is, in all the years I've been participating in this message board, I've never actually seen the filter "bleep out" a real swear word. I've only seen it in action when it was destroying perfectly nice words, but the effect is hilarious!
Maybe bleep-akes could be your special mysterious ingredient ? 
